FOXBORO – And then the black helicopter came and, well, you wanted to just pound your face off the cement when the breathless, “Is it here for Brady?!” shoe-peeing commenced.

It was quite an afternoon at Gillette Stadium. The best quarterback of his generation and the New England Patriots' raison d’etre tweaked his knee in practice against the Buccaneers.

But that discouraging news, which should give a football fan or media-type pause, actually gave very little pause at all.

The gas pedal got pinned. And before Brady had climbed up on the exam table in the Patriots training room, Bill Belichick was being skewered for not having a good enough succession plan; Tim Tebow’s chances of beating out Ryan Mallett as Patriots starter were being weighed, and career retrospectives lamenting Brady’s near-misses in the Super Bowls were being launched.

Forget yelling “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater. The words “Brady left the field . . . ” in the 617, 508, 978, 413, 401, 603, 207 and 802 area codes are heretofore illegal.

Tom Brady will be fine, I was told at about 5:50 p.m.

By that time, however, the gambling website Bovada had suspended all gambling on NFL futures involving the Patriots, and TV hosts were kicking rocks that the uncertainty couldn’t have dragged out a little bit longer.

Tell you what: the interest of the masses in professional football is good for my business. And conversation about sports is how I pay my bills. I’m not mocking the interest.

I am mocking how ridiculously out of proportion the “what ifs . . . ” got in relation to the evidence submitted.

Tom Brady limped off the field. Can the Patriots make the playoffs with Ryan Mallett at quarterback?!?

I get it, I suppose. But if I hear distant thunder, I’m not running to make sure my homeowner’s insurance is paid up.